Duterte jokes that his soldiers can rape women under martial law in the Philippines

After former first daughter Chelsea Clinton slammed a remark he made about rape, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been lashing out at her and dwelling on former president Bill Clinton's alleged misdeeds. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Three days after declaring martial law in the rebellious southern Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered his troops to crush the militants, and gave a speech to inspire them:

Thousands have been killed in Duterte's drug war — some by vigilantes, and some gunned down by police on government orders.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seen at a news conference at Manila international airport on Wednesday, has threatened to impose martial law nationwide and joked about rape in a speech to his soldiers. (NOEL CELIS/Agence-France Presse via Getty Images)

Lately, he has expanded his attention from drugs to a years-long spate of battles between Philippine forces and Muslim insurgent groups on the southern island of Mindanao, where one of Asia's most wanted militants is believed to be hiding.

When Duterte declared martial law on the island and its 20 million people Tuesday, he cited the fictitious beheading of a police chief — who is still alive — to explain his decision.

A day later, he threatened to expand martial law across the country, and told his troops to “spare no one” who violently resists government forces.

The president often appears to revel in his bloody reputation. He has called himself more brutal than the Islamic State, and in December claimed to have thrown a criminal out of a helicopter.

He later said he was joking about the helicopter.

Many condemned his comments last week.

“Rape is not a joke,” a women's political party in the country said in a statement, according to the BBC. “Martial law and the heightened vulnerability to military abuse that it brings to women and children are not a joke either.”

A Human Rights Watch representative told the outlet the president had signaled to his soldiers that they could carry out abuses under martial law.

But Duterte has not shown much concern for his international reputation in the past. He has criticized former president Barack Obama and Pope Francis.

And he once called Donald Trump “a bigot,” before the two men became presidents.

They used nicer words for each other in a phone call last month, according to a leaked transcript of the conversation, in which Trump praised Duterte's drug war.

Duterte invited Trump to the Philippines at the end of the call, according to the transcript.

Trump, in turn invited Duterte to the Oval Office and said he was “a good man.”